Share story

A University of Washington student team that’s in a competition to build the transportation system of the future did very well last month in the latest part of an ongoing competition — placing fourth in the nation and sixth in the world.

Now, they’re already back in the lab, trying to perfect their pod for the next round of the competition this summer.

In late January, the 35-member UW team took its pod — which would be used to transport people or goods in the hyperloop — to Hawthorne, Calif., to test it out, as part of a competition sponsored by Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX.

In the coming months, the UW team will likely focus on its use of composite materials in the pod’s construction, Williams said. For that work, it is helpful to be in Seattle, where there’s a wealth of experience in building things such as airplanes using composite materials, he said.

The UW students may also try to build a test track somewhere in the area, and will be looking for new members to replace those who are graduating, Williams said.

The UW team has been operating on something of a shoestring, whereas some of their competitors in the California competition had hundred-thousand-dollar budgets, Williams said. And it was pretty obvious, from looking at the final product, which teams had the money and which didn’t, he said.

Still, working on a tight budget “makes you a better engineer,” he said, because it requires the students to be more innovative.